Protego Closes $125M Defence-Tech Fund

Protego Ventures has closed a $125 million debut fund as defence technology becomes a more specialised and institutional part of venture capital.

What happened

The firm completed the $125 million final close of its first fund, focused on Israeli and global defence-technology startups.

Protego plans to invest roughly $5 million to $15 million per company.

Its existing portfolio includes XTEND, the drone company that recently entered public markets.

Why it matters

Defence startups operate differently from conventional software companies.

Sales cycles can be long, procurement processes are complex and customers are often governments with security, certification and deployment requirements that generalist investors may not understand deeply.

Specialist funds can therefore add value beyond capital by helping companies navigate procurement and scale manufacturing.

The bigger picture

Defence technology is moving from an edge case in venture capital to a dedicated category with its own specialist managers, government-backed investors and increasingly large private funds.

That institutionalisation matters because companies building drones, communications systems, sensing platforms and autonomy often need more capital and patience than standard SaaS businesses.

Protego's fund adds another source of dedicated capital to a market that is becoming structurally larger rather than simply experiencing a short-term funding cycle.